Per diems are a standard rate the US government sets for a city indicating how much it would likely cost someone to feed themselves while traveling for business. It was created for government workers, but thankfully the rest of us can use this tool on our own taxes.

When you travel overnight for your freelance work, you can use the meals and incidentals rate to calculate your meal expenses for the city, state, or foreign location where you're traveling. Use actual expenses for lodging, like hotels and Airbnbs.

How to Calculate Per Diems

Here's an example: Let's say in 2023 you live in Brooklyn and have to travel to LA to meet and work with a client for 4 days. Here's how you would calculate the cost of your meals for that trip:

• Got to www.perdiem101.com and look up the 2023 "meals & incidentals" rate for Los Angeles, California. (Spoiler: It's $74 for 2023.)

• Of those 4 days, you were traveling on the first day and the fourth day (For travel days, we only get to take 75% of the per diem rate.)

• So, that means $74.00 x 2 for the days you were in LA the full day, and $55.50 x 2 for the two days you were traveling. Your total for the trip is $259

• If you often have to pay for meals with clients, your actual costs may exceed the per diem. If your actual costs exceed the per diem, use actual costs instead.

You can also get per diem rates for US and International travel on the GSA website. The rates change every year, so make sure to do fresh math each year, even if you go back to the same cities for travel regularly.

On Our Website

When you’re filling out your information on our website, do your best to calculate per diems for any trips you take. Add that amount to any local business meal expenses with clients or peers to get your total for the meals category for a given year. You can always ask your preparer questions about meals and per diems in your tax appointment.